School Starts Tomorrow

A quick tour around where I am living—Green Bay Pluit. Pluit is the region. My school is Bina Bangsa School Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK). Pantai Indah Kapuk is the region. I don’t know how many regions are in Jakarta, but there are a lot. Anyway, the apartment complex I live at is massive. There are 8 towers that are roughly 30 stories high. Towers A-D (pictured below: C is on the left; D the right) are on the east side and towers E-H are on the west side.

Between the two sets of towers there is a mall being constructed. Who knows when it will be done, but hopefully sooner rather than later. The school will give me a living allowance for next year and I hope that the allowance will cover me to find a studio in one of the Green Bay towers. Once the mall gets built, the area will be a lot of fun. You can see the pool in the picture; it is in the middle of the four towers. Outside of each tower there are a bunch of garage-like stalls that businesses can rent out. There are a bunch of property businesses, salons, restaurants, and laundry places in these stalls. Ah, laundry. The laundry system here is unique. You drop it off and come back to get it 3 days later. As soon as you take your laundry to the place, they weigh it. For every kg (why can’t the world adjust to the American system? Don't they know that we make the rules?), it costs 6.000 rupiah*. When you receive your laundry, it is wrapped up in plastic and packaged very tight (pictured below: they are big Royals fans over here; when I picked up my laundry the lady yelled, "MOOOOOOOOOOOOSSE").

So far, they have done a great job and it is very cheap. My first week and a half of laundry was just over $3 and the last week was right around $2. With the monetary system in Indonesia, the coins are for 100, 200, 500, and 1.000 rupiah. The coins are basically useless. One of these times I am going to drop off my laundry and whip out a ton of coins ala Kramer ordering calzones. I fully anticipate being turned away. The only pain with the laundry is that they attach those annoying plastic tags with your order number onto every piece of clothing so that they keep the order intact. So every time I get my laundry back, I crank out the scissors and pretend that I have bought a bunch of new clothes. At these laundry stores they also sell the big jugs of clean water. I mentioned in a previous post that the school has hooked me up with an office-type water dispenser. When it is time to get a new jug of water, you go to one of the many stalls around Green Bay that sell them and exchange your empty water for a full one. Dirt cheap. 10.000 rupiah (c’mon, you can make the conversion) for a new jug of water. That is a very good thing because I drink a lot of water.

*2 things. 1) The Indonesian number system switches commas and decimal points. So the cost of laundry is six thousand rupiah per kg. I will be teaching according to the Singapore standards where instead of commas for numbers in the thousands, you just leave a space (i.e., instead of 25,000 it is 25 000). 2) Rupiah (oooh, that's fun to say). The exchange rate is almost exactly 10.000 rupiah for every $1. This makes for very easy mental math.

Today was a great day of fellowship. Jenni, Levi, and Andy all joined me for church in downtown Jakarta. The church, JICF, is located a few blocks away from the large futsol (soccer) stadium (pictured below: a cool statue that is in front of the stadium).

Tonight Arsenal is in town to scrimmage the Indonesian national team. Outside of the stadium were a bunch of vendors selling tons of Arsenal merchandise. There was probably a 6:1 ratio of Arsenal to Indonesian gear being sold. Being the loyal native that I am, I went looking for an Indonesian jersey. I spent way too much money on myself today. I bought an Indonesian national jersey and a scarf that says “Indonesia” (pictured below) for a total of 65.000 rupiah.

I bargained down from the 150.000 rupiah the guy wanted, but I may not be able to sleep tonight knowing that I spent so much. Everyone in downtown was wearing their Gunners gear and the city really does love their futsol. I was talking with someone at the mall about how exciting it must be for the people of Jakarta to see players with skill levels worthy of the Premier League. He was genuinely surprised that I said that and tried to explain that Indonesia produces plenty of good futsol players. Right on, man. We took the public transportation back to our apartment: which was not nearly as scary as had been portrayed. At one of our stops, a nice young man noticed me from the blog (pictured below) and asked for a photo.

I tried to explain to him that if I honored every photo request in Jakarta I wouldn't have any time for myself. He stressed that he was a big fan of mine and that he was very excited to see how Perry Ellis would improve during his sophomore campaign. I'm a sucker for Perry Ellis, so I smiled and made the guy's day. Overall, it was a great Sunday with 3 amazing people that God has placed in my life. I am so thankful and humbled that God has given me the people that have come into my life here in Indonesia.

School starts tomorrow. I’m excited to start working with my students. Ever since I knew I was going to become a teacher, my mom has always said, “I can’t wait to help you decorate your classroom before school starts.” Sadly, I was not able to have her help set up my classroom in Indonesia. I have done a little classroom decorating, but most of the stuff that will be on display will be students’ work once the year gets rolling. The way that BBS is structured is that students stay in the same room all day and the teachers rotate to the different classrooms. So technically I do not have “my classroom,” but I am a homeroom teacher (my form class) for a 3^rd grade class that is more-or-less mine. I will teach them English and two 4^th grade classes math. I hope to get better each day. I have the same expectations for myself that I will have for my students: get better each day and we will end up where we need to be. I know that this year will be a constant learning experience with it being my first year as a full-time teacher. I just hope to make a difference in these kids’ lives (that’s why I am a teacher after all !!) and show them Christ’s love through my teaching.

A few random notes:

•  It is not uncommon to see men with unusually long fingernails. In Indonesian culture, growing your fingernails out is a sign that you are wealthy enough that you do not have to work construction. I will not be partaking in this practice.
• I am using my iPhone from back home over here. I got the phone unlocked for a small sum over here and I am very glad that it is so easy to access the Internet and stay in touch with everyone from the States. The only minor thing that is annoying is that something with the signal over here causes smartphone batteries to drain quickly. Not a big deal, I just make sure to have my charger on me when I head to school.
• Alcohol is very expensive here. Smoking is very inexpensive. They say that is why all Indonesians smoke: because it is cheap. Bintang is the cheap, locally brewed beer and it will run you about $1.50 for a can at the grocery store/Indomaret (Indomaret is their convenience store/gas station equivalent).
•  S/O to the homie Jim Hammen. Just now stumbled upon his blog: jumhammonds.blogspot.com. Very mad at myself that I never investigated when he talked about his blog before. Hilarious dude with a great writing style and sense of humor. Check it out if you are looking to be entertained.
• No food poisoning yet. I think I am one of the last teachers standing in that category. And yes, after saying this I realize that whatever I have for dinner tomorrow will cause me severe pain.

Can’t stress how blessed I am to have all the love and support from back home during my time in Indonesia. Thanks to everyone that is keeping up with the blog and to everyone that has reached out to me since I got here.

Tuhan Memberkati!

Over 1/100th Done

There are several ways to stay in touch with me if you are in the States. My e-mail is mattsphillips@cox.net. If you have a smartphone, my Viber is my USA phone number (feel free to e-mail me if you need it); Viber is free to get and we can text and call (if I am hooked up to wifi) for free. I also have Whatsapp and my number for that is my Indonesian number. I’m not sure if you need to add the country code, but my number is +62 081289933752. Whatsapp will cost you $0.99, but we can text back and forth if you have it. I will try to stay in contact with anyone that reaches out and I apologize if my communication has been spotty so far. I got Internet in my apartment thanks to the help of Mr. John and Mr. Emmanuel*. The Internet is not the fastest, but it is not the slowest. It was very cheap and I was appreciative of the help of the Admin staff with all the questions I had my first days in Jakarta. I can tell that they are the backbone of the school and their work ethic is something that I hope to emulate this school year.

*At Bina Bangsa School the teachers/staff are Mister/Miss (First Name). You can have students call you by your last name if you’d like, but I am going to take the advice from all the teachers I have had in my life: be a follower, not a leader. So, I will be Mr. Matthew this school year. My preferred title, Sir Phillips of the Great Plains, was denied.

I’m going to take a second to discuss how great BBS has made this transition for all of us teachers. Yes, there have been problems. I thought I would have a roommate. I was a little surprised that my room was so small. I didn’t have electricity my first night. But the school has gone way out of their way to try to make all of us new teachers feel at home during this transition period. The school has provided transportation to and from school (which they will continue to do throughout the school year) and took us to the mall (more on malls coming up) to get familiar with how to access items we might need. Even if the school hadn’t been so accommodating, it would have been very petty of me to complain about my situation. I have been reading through Job and it has opened my eyes as to how dependent my mood/emotions are on things. A couple of times this week I was frustrated that I did not have a phone or Internet, but I have my health. I am safe. My family has their health and safety. Especially once I heard that one of my best friends’ family members was going through some health stuff, I realized that God has blessed me thousands of times over and that even if some of the things that I have are taken away from me, “shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10). I understand that I am in for a rollercoaster of a year. There are going to be a lot of high highs and a lot of low lows. But I don’t have to worry about not having the answers. I am better off knowing that God has the answers than having the answers myself.

Over 1/100^th of my time in Indonesia has already passed. What?! I just got here. I know like 30 words. How is it flying by so quickly? The sad thing is that once school starts the time is really going to fly by. The school is very academic. They take great pride in being one of the top schools in Indonesia*. My performance will be judged based on my students’ test scores. The proof is in the pudding. Either I can teach or I can’t. I’m excited for this. I am going to have a steep learning curve with this being my first time teaching full-time as well as trying to adjust to the BBS mentality. I will try to adopt the “word hard, play harder” strategy this year. Work my tail off Monday-Friday and enjoy my limited time in a foreign country on the weekends. This school year will be stressful, but my principal, Mr. Yew, is a godly man that seems like he will be a great resource for me personally and professionally this year.

*I don’t know exactly how the rankings were done, but we were shown a list of the top 10 highest achieving schools in Indonesia, according to test results, and BBS had 4 schools listed in the top 10. Including the number 1 overall school in the country.

Jakarta is a mall-centered city. The city is very dirty. The malls are gorgeous. Very big, very clean, and very cool. Whenever we asked people what we needed to see/do in Jakarta, they always responded, “there really isn’t much to see/do in Jakarta: just a ton of people.” From what I’ve seen so far, they aren’t too far off. I am excited to have the opportunity to go adventuring around the country (we have tentative plans to visit a fellow first year teacher in Malang over our 2-week vacation at the beginning of August) because I think that the nature is the must-see attraction in Indonesia. There are tons of malls and they are all massive. They have everything that I could ever need. One thing that surprised me about the food here is how many baked goods there are. I knew there would be tons of rice (they aren't kidding when they say every meal), but the amount of bread surprises me. Maybe it shouldn't. I don't know. The one thing that people kept talking about for entertainment in Jakarta was the nightlife. Jakarta is famous for having a good club scene. Last night we went out for our first clubbing experience in Jakarta. It was an experience. The club, X2 (pictured below), was 2-stories and was crazy from the second we walked in until the second we walked out.

  

We got there around midnight and didn’t leave until after 4:00am (don’t tell my mom, she is a big believer that nothing good happens after midnight). There were probably 20-30 BBS teachers there, so it was nice to have a little bonding experience with my fellow first year teachers as well as some veteran teachers on staff. Indonesian women are beautiful. I’m talking, “I had class with 20 gorgeous women every day for 2 years, but daaaaaang” beautiful. And, from what I’ve been told and what I’ve seen so far, they are very sweet. Beautiful and sweet: a winning combination. For those that know me, you know that I am not that big of a partier and a “club” would be the last place you expect to see me the last 5 or so years. But this was a blast. Once I got over the crazy lights and the insane bass/music and just embraced going nuts on the dance floor, it was a great time. It was also the last night with my new best bud, Eli (we have plans to do Australia/New Zealand in December and January). I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to handle it, but the club atmosphere will be visited again. After we left, we piled 5 of us into a cab (1 in front with our friend Cory laying over 3 of us in the back row—poor kid). The first cab (yes, I said “first cab”) took us about 1/5^th of the way back to our place before pulling over and kicking us out. His excuse was that he was too tired to continue driving and it wouldn’t be safe. Thankfully, he dropped us by a hotel where there was another cab hanging out. We got in that one and when we were about ¾ of a mile from our apartment complex, he hits this massive pothole and it sounds like he has a flat tire. He gets out and sees that a good portion of his bumper is dangling from the car. He does a little repair job, and we finally got home. In Jakarta, the call to prayer for Muslims is right around 4:40am. It has gotten to the point where I sleep through it…unless I’m not asleep yet. Not a good sign if you are still up when the call to prayer is heard.

A few side notes that I couldn’t discuss at length:

•  There are security guards everywhere. I mean, everywhere. All over the mall. All over our school. All over our apartment complex (there are 8 towers: all of which around 30 stories high). Labor must be stupid cheap, here. Very humbling to think that I am being paid as well as I am.
• The skyscrapers in Jakarta are spread out. Typically in the States, there is a central downtown district where all of a city’s skyscrapers are located. Not here. You see 6-10 skyscrapers. Drive a few miles. See another 6-10 and it appears that way for the whole city (at least what I have seen so far).
•  Jakarta traffic is bad. I knew that coming in, but if you are trying to get somewhere between 4-7pm, fuggedaboutit. After our 5-day Induction period was over it took 2 ½ hours to get to the restaurant for dinner. We were told that we were lucky it didn't take longer.
•  I have made some solid friendships over the last 10 days with fellow first year teachers. Unfortunately, 3 of the 5 campuses are not in Jakarta and I had to say goodbye to some amazing people that I have gotten to know over the last few days. They are going to be great teachers and I hope they know that I will be praying for them over the course of their time in Indonesia. I hope to visit all of the campuses before my time here is up.

Hope you made it through all of that. Feel free to holler at me whenever.

God Bless!

First Day in Jakarta

The school loaded us into 3 of their vans and took us to our new home for the next year. The apartment complex is HUGE. Driving up to it at night, there were 4 massive towers that appeared to be 40 stories high. One of the guys in our car said, “Oh yeah, we are definitely in the 1% here.” I was pretty tired at this point and just wanted to find out who my roommate would be and what our living quarters would look like. We could tell that the people shuttling us around were tired and just wanted to drop us off and get the heck out of there. We were all being dropped off at different towers at the complex. Jenny and I got dropped off at the 3^rd stop. I knew she would not be my roommate, so I was anxious to see if my roommate was there already or if I would be waiting on him (or them) to arrive. I was told at the UNI fair that I would probably be rooming with 1 or 2 other teachers the first year. The second year they would give us an allowance to find our own place. I get up to my floor. Get to my door. The nice gentleman opens it for me, and I see:

Obviously, this was taken after I unpacked, but that’s it?! I said, “So, I will be in this one by myself?” He replied, “Yes.” He asked if I needed anything else. I did not and he was off. My only instructions at this point (at roughly 1:00am Thursday morning) were that I needed to be in the lobby for pick-up by the school bus by 7:00am Friday. No roommate. No idea where any of the other teachers (except Jenny) were staying in this massive complex. No way of communicating with anyone (my Indonesian is, how do I say this, non-existent). No Internet. I was fully planning on unpacking a few things and getting some sleep. This was the first time that I got a glimpse (still don’t think it has fully hit me, yet) that I am HALWAY ACROSS THE WORLD. I felt lonely that night. I did not second guess my decision, but I did realize more clearly the uphill battle that I have in front of me to mesh with a new culture and build new relationships. I was a little disappointed that I do not have a roommate, but maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. Instead of coming back to the apartment to hang out with him, maybe this will force me to stay out of the apartment and be outgoing during my year at this location. I unpacked a good number of things, took a little shower to cool off (below: this is my whole bathroom; swimsuit is covering the shower head), and then said a few prayers.

I did not cry that night, which is shocking. If you know me, I am a very emotional guy and the fact that I have not cried at all during this process is very surprising (you could have gotten me not cryingat 20-1 in Vegas last week). I just prayed that the other teachers didn’t feel lonely/lost that night. We all signed up for a crazy adventure, and this is the hand we have been dealt. I also prayed for my health and safety during my time in Southeast Asia. Once I was ready for bed, I went to turn off the bathroom light. All the lights went out. I think by turning off the light I caused a fuse to blow and all the electricity in my room went out. Indonesia, mane. Thankfully, the only thing that stunk was not having air conditioning that night. It is very hot and muggy, here. I got about 5 hours of sleep that night. I think that I heard the Muslim call to prayer around 5 that morning, but it is a very hazy memory. I woke up around 8:00am and it was fully light out. One thing that will take some getting used to is that the sun rises every morning at 6:00am and the sun sets every day at 6:00pm—because we are practically on the equator. Just before 10:00am Thursday, a nice young fellow from Bina Bangsa came by to make sure that we had our water (can’t drink the tap water here, so they have hooked me up with a Danone office-esque water cooler) and that everything was alright. I informed him that my electricity was out and he left saying he would tell someone about the situation. About 45 minutes later 3 gentlemen came by to investigate. Later on that day, my power was restored.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with Jenny and Aaron to do a little exploring around our apartment complex for our first day in the city. We found a nice restaurant with wifi (I wanted to send a text to mom and let her know everything was going fine) that had tremendous food. I got the Momma’s Fried Noodles with chicken. It had the little pepper next to the name of the dish to signal “spicy.” The noodles had a great kick and I demolished that meal. The people there were very nice and I had my first photo request from one of our waiters. I had been warned about people wanting to take photos with you randomly, and sure enough it happens. He must have recognized me from the blog. We continued to walk around for about an hour and I’m sure a lot of locals went home talking about the crazy white guy with the phat (yeah, I used a “ph” phat) smile on his face walking around town. A lot of people yelled, “Hey Mister!” and there I was like Kramer responding to “Assman” with a wave and a smile for everyone. When we got back I ran into Cindy, a teacher from Canada, in my hallway. She was part of a group that was taken to the mall to get a few necessities. She said that she had been told that we were not permanently staying in this apartment and that this was only temporary. I’m not sure how I would feel about moving. On one hand, I would love a roommate and possibly a bigger/nicer space. Having someone to talk through the highs and lows of this year would be great. But I am already somewhat settled in here and it isn’t that bad. I guess I will find out in a few days after our orientation is done.

We ended our first night by heading to a spot with wifi to enjoy a beer and update everyone back home on our whereabouts. It is going to be an adjustment, but I hope to make the most out of every day I get to spend in Indonesia.

Minumlah!

Travel

I am in Jakarta. Sorry this has taken so long to post. The internet isn’t set up in my apartment and probably won’t be for the near future. This post will be about the 51-hour trek from Wichita to Jakarta.

The time leading up to my departure from America was not as stressful as I had imagined it would be. Packing was easily the worst part of the preparation for my trip to Indonesia—probably the only time where I was even a little frustrated. Saying goodbye to friends and family was not as hard as I had imagined it would be. I kept thinking all along that reality would strike when I said goodbye to my parents or when I got to the airport. My flight from Wichita to Chicago was delayed by 2 hours and gave my dad and I plenty of time to just sit and enjoy each other’s company one last time (mom recently had knee surgery and didn’t make it to the airport). Once I got to Chicago, I was the 2^ndperson in our traveling group of 10 to arrive. I met my new friend, Aaron, at the ticketing window for Qatar Airways just before 3:00. The window didn’t even open until 5:00, so we had plenty of time to get to know each other and get a feel for what each of us was thinking about this experience. I met Aaron a little bit after he had said goodbye to his dad and brother. It was evident that he comes from a great family and cares deeply about his family members. I didn’t show much emotion when saying goodbye to my family and I hope that they realize that doesn’t mean I am excited to not see them for a year. I am so lucky to have my family in my life. From the time I got to Wichita on Saturday until I left Monday morning, everyone in my family was extremely supportive of my upcoming adventure. How do I describe the love that my parents have always shown me? Embarrassed? No. Ashamed? No. I think the right term would be “not worthy.” I cannot imagine a set of parents being so consistently supportive and loving of a child as they have been to me. My parents always say that the way I pay them back for everything is by doing the same to my children. A) I hope I get the chance to be a great husband/father and B) I have a really high bar to live up to from what my parents have done for me. Long story short, I am overly blessed to have the people in my life that I do.

On to the travel! The first big flight was from Chicago to Doha, Qatar. Qatar Airways does it right. If you ever have a chance to use their product, I highly recommend it. The plane was a 3-3-3 seating arrangement and each seat had a personal entertainment system placed in the headrest directly in front of them (below: image of the personal entertainment system of the plane on a compass with an arrow pointing towards Mecca).

The personal entertainment system was a touch screen and had a lot of different features. You could watch movies (over 200 to choose from), watch TV shows (a very good selection), listen to music (didn’t even get around to checking this out), read up on Qatar, and see the flight’s progress on rotating maps. I watched “Silver Linings Playbook,” and an episode of “How I Met Your Mother,” and read up on the airline and the country where I would be spending the night. The food was pretty good: very good for airplane standards. And there was always more coming our way. On the 13.5 hour flight to Doha, we got two meals (dinner and breakfast) and stewardesses kept coming around with drinks and snacks throughout the flight. We landed around 6:30pm local time but didn’t get settled in our hotel room until around 9:30. On the drive to the hotel, we were able to see the beautiful architecture that painted the Doha skyline (below: my favorite skyscraper).

The hotel was very nice and came with a free dinner and breakfast. The meals were both buffets and had incredible spreads. We did not leave Movenpick Tower & Suites hungry. Each of us got our own room, so we felt like we were living as kings and queens. We had to be in the lobby for our shuttle to the airport the following morning at 7:00am, but we all figured that we probably weren’t going to be spending many more nights of our life in Doha so we went exploring. The few people we saw out at night (granted, it was from 12-1) was surprising. After walking around downtown Doha, we went back to the hotel to grab a few zzzs before our flight the next morning.

The flight to Jakarta was a little over 8 hours. I don’t know if it is typical for long international flights to be delayed, but both of ours got in around 45 minutes after they were supposed to. I’m sure that has to do with loading 40+ rows of 9 people. I got lucky on this flight and got to sit next to Brad, the one person I had met at the fair at UNI that I knew was going to Indonesia, in an exit row. The extra leg room on an 8 hour flight cannot be understated. The only (not negative…) different thing about being in an exit row was that when it was time for Muslims to do their daily prayers, they came to the exit row to face Mecca. I tried to keep my feet out of their way while they were kneeling, but multiple times contact was made. No one made any note of it, but I wanted to be as respectful as possible. I can tell that Muslims are a very faithful group and I am excited to see what my interactions are with them in the near future. Once we landed, there was someone there to greet the 10 of us traveling together to help us go through customs and get our visas inspected. After making it out of the airport, Jane, our HR director, greeted us with a goody bag that included a converter, bottle of water, and (wait for it…) KFC!! My first meal in Indonesia was a thigh and a lot of steamed rice. Traveling with 9 other people in the same boat as me was awesome. It really helped me stay calm the whole way. I kept waiting for me to freak out that I was somewhere between Africa and Australia, but it hadn’t come…yet.

I have my next post typed up already. It will detail getting dropped off at my apartment and the 30ish hours before the school picked us up for our first of 5 orientation days. I could post it now, but what fun would that be? I gotta make sure you keep checking the site! Check back in a short bit for the story of when I really felt lonely for the first time in my life.

Spidey-Sense

Before I start this post, I hope all of you know that I try to answer all of the fan mail that I receive. But the enormous quantity means that I cannot ensure a response for everyone. One e-mail I got recently, from Matt in Arizona, said,

“Long time reader, first time e-mailer. You talk about how blessed you have been with the friendships you have here in America. What do you plan to do to ensure making lasting friendships in Indonesia?”

Great question, Matt. I am a firm believer that life is all about confidence. When I did umpiring for 4 summers my boss used to say, “if you dress like an umpire and act like an umpire, people will treat you like an umpire.” It may be a stretch to relate that to life in general, but I think that if I go about my business in Jakarta with confidence I will be able to make friends. A couple other things that I will try to continue to do is be myself and keep a smile on my face at all times. I am so lucky to have this opportunity to meet new people and see a different part of the world. Why wouldn’t I have a smile on my face? If anyone ever wants to get a hold of me or ask me any questions, my e-mail ismattsphillips@cox.net

What a crazy last few weeks it has been. I have been trying to spend time with every person that has had an impact on me becoming the person I am today. Trying to see and hang out with everyone has further opened my eyes as to how blessed I am. I truly believe that I am the luckiest man on the face of the Earth (Lou Gehrig voice). After spending time with so many amazing people, I have thought, “what the hell am I doing leaving all these people and these strong relationships?!” But I am as far away as possible from regretting my decision to see a different culture and interact with non-Americans while it is a possibility. I leave Monday and it really hasn’t clicked yet. Probably won’t until I’m at the airport or in the air. Later on this evening some of my good friends in Lawrence are throwing me a going away party. Maybe it will start to hit me then, but I doubt it.

In the last few weeks I have played my last round of golf with my dad for at least a year, worked my last shift at Alvamar, and said goodbye to all 3 of my grandparents that are still going strong. I was lucky enough to play in the Carlos O’Kelly’s golf tournament for the 3^rd year in a row with my dad and 2 of his best friends (Kim and Stefan). Our group’s goal each year is to have the most fun out of all the foursomes. We are 3-time defending champs in that category. The last 4 years I have been lucky enough to be a part of the Alvamar family. They took a chance on me in the 2^nd round of the 2010 Cart-Boy Draft and I think that my accomplishments speak for themselves. My dad’s only sibling, Carl, is in Kansas City to visit their parents right now. Luckily, after getting back from Colorado (we’ll get there in a second) I was able to stop by to see him, his son, and my grandparents. My entire family has always been over-the-top loving and supporting of everything I do—very lucky to have them on my team. I took a trip to visit my mom’s mom in San Antonio with her and my little brother, Craig, last week. It was great to see her as well as my Uncles David and Rich and their families. I really hate everything about the drive there: from the Texas traffic in San Antonio and Austin to the 4-cylinder Dodge Journey I get to maneuver. I channeled my inner Kyle Busch on the way back and made it door-to-door in 9:20 with 3 stops. But everything else about the trip was awesome. Some good Texas barbeque and a lot of quality time with everyone made the drive well worth it.

After arriving in Wichita after the 9+ hour drive, I continued on to Manhattan to start a bro trip with my great friends Ian and Chance. The main reason for this trip was that Ian is not sure exactly when he will be getting engaged/married, and it is very possible that it happens within the next two years. If that happens, I really hope to be able to come back for the wedding. In case I am unable to attend the wedding festivities, we decided to take a 3-day trip to Colorado to celebrate the importance we all have in each others’ lives (below: Chance, Me, Ian).

The trip started by making it to Denver in time to catch a Rockies game at Coors Field. I had not been to Coors and it was a great place to watch a ballgame (conservatively I’ll say it was top 10 I’ve visited). We sat next to a friendly gentleman who was originally from Wichita and is a proud graduate of the University of Kansas. He was awesome to chat with during the game about everything from life in Colorado to how excited we are to see the Jayhawk basketball team mature next year. Maybe the best part of our conversation was when he introduced us to Dale’s Pale Ale. A locally brewed beer, it was fantastic—one of the better tasting microbrews I have ever had. He was one of the many instances of the people of Colorado being very friendly. After the game was over, we headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park. Camping/hiking has never been something I have really done, so I let Ian and Chance organize everything for that aspect of the trip. The scenery in RMNP is like nothing I have ever seen before. “Beautiful” doesn’t even begin to describe the gorgeous views that the park provides. Ian made sure that we hiked the 2.7 miles to Mills Lake; he and his family had been there before and he said it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The lake was very impressive…until we continued our hike for another 2.5 miles to Black Lake (pictured below). The snow during the last mile of the hike was a little annoying, but the trek was well worth it. If the woman I end up proposing to is a nature lover, Black Lake might be the spot. Absolutely stunning. The hike down was an adventure as Chance had the great idea of taking us off trail on the way down. He referenced his spidey-sense (yes, spidey-sense) multiple times on the trip when we didn’t know what we were doing. I have to admit, every time it worked out. Props to you, Chance. But you still suck at FIFA.

The packing is almost complete and I am excited to be back in Wichita Saturday to spend my last few hours with lifelong friends and family. But before that, I am pumped to celebrate the amazing group of people that have put up with me in Lawrence for the last few years.

Cheers